The blog that NOBODY reads... but everyone gets upset about.
Exposing the dark underside of the political world of Clark County, Washington... The least read and most talked about blog around.

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Vote.

Few people on this planet take their freedom for granted more than the citizens of the United States.

As Americans, we are fortunate to live in a country where even our "poor" live better than a huge percentage of the rest of this world.

As a product of the welfare state... a high school drop out and college graduate... someone who's experienced homelessness up close and personal... someone who's missed meals, gone unemployed, and lived a rough life, only to work my way up to owning a business, a house... two kids in college... the American Dream, voting is the most direct voice I have. It's why, for example, I feel so strongly that advisory votes are an excellent way to express an opinion that is unmistakable.

I spent 6 years on the East German border and drove through then-communist East Germany many times... including communist East Berlin.

I've seen countries and people where freedom was an arcane subject only dreamed about... occasionally attempted and occasionally died for.

Over 150,000 voters in Clark County are liable to sit out the primary, leaving it to those of us who actually give a damn to do the heavy lifting of exercising a franchise that thousands of others have died to give us... the right to vote.

I get that the system is corrupt: that we are one of the few if not the only country with open elections that doesn't require proof of citizenship or even identification, as far as that goes, to be able to vote.

I hear the cries of racism because we require less identification to vote than is needed to cash a welfare check.

I get that because of these reasons and many others, the act of voting has been cheapened to, in the minds of many, the level of unimportant at best and worthless at worst.

But it remains among my most cherished of rights. And I, personally, will be damned if I will piss on the graves of the ten's of thousands who died to give me this right by simply blowing it off and ignoring it.

The democrats are pitching a fit here locally because David Madore was elected commissioner. But they don't have much to say when a detail guy like me points out that about 30,000 or so typically democrat voters refused to vote for Marc Boldt, in part, because he insisted on having an "R" after his name, and because the hate for the CRC/Loot Rail scam crosses all demographics, including party lines.

I, for one, continue to believe that outcome to have been particularly fortunate. Not everyone sees it that way... but then, not everyone sees freedom the way I do, either.

So, if you can vote, you should. You should, however, only vote in races where you know about the candidates and the issues; where your knowledge hopefully, but all to infrequently, extends beyond the 100 words in the voter pamphlet... where your selection requires more than the shallow, typically worthless label of a party affiliation which may or may not be true.

Follow by Email

Subscribe To

Words of Wisdom

"No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth."

Plato

"This country has shed more blood for the freedom of other people than all the other nations in the history of the world combined, and I'm tired of people feeling like they've got to apologize for America."

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN)

“In a time of universal deceit – telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

George Orwell, the author of 1984

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Dr. Martin Luther King

"Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom."

Alexis de Tocqueville

"A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example."Niccolo Machiavelli

“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Washington State Constitution, Declaration of Rights

"All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights." - Article 1, Section 1

"The right of petition and of the people peaceably to assemble for the common good shall never be abridged." - Article 1, Section 4

"The first power reserved by the people is the initiative." - Article 2, Section 1(a)